Chronicle of Angelous
by Eric Kraven
Summary: This shows the fall of a gifted Paladin, as he walks a dark road of vengence and Mayhem. He collects loyal friends, and servants along the way, as he seeks treasure and power in his constant serach to fill the void in his heart.


Fall of the Paladin

Angelous rode through the village that he had just saved. The people where beaten, bruised, but thanks to him...they were free. He stopped now and again to dismount from his faithful steed Charger, and to tend to some of the more injured villagers.

He was praised...and many wanted to give him gifts, but he would take none. A paladin did not walk his path for physical wealth, but the divine glory of saving those in need. He spent much of the day, and late into the night, healing and mending the broken villagers, in heart and body. The next day he left them for his home. He mounted Charger, and rode. It was two day's ride...but he felt like time was flying as he crossed the ground on the fast hooves of his steed. In two short days, he had finally made it. Soon he would be home. He was one hill away from seeing his wife, his daughter, and his three sons. He saw smoke spiraling up, and his mind could only guess that one of the boys had set fire to the field...again. They did not need the crops, but Angelous felt that tending the crops and gardens was good work for the boys while he was gone. He spurred Charger, to see the damage, and pulled his steed to a stop at the top of the hill.

He looked at his home. A wooden cottage he had built with some of the surrounding villagers.....a barn and stable for Charger and their farm animals.....the garden where he and his wife grew their herbs and vegetables. The field where the wheat and corn stalks stood proudly. All had been set ablaze.....nothing was left standing....except for three crosses.....and the table which Angelous and his sons had built as their dinner table. He spurred Charger again and again...until he was no more than a white blur racing toward the smoking rubble that had once been his home...his sanctuary.... his life. He dismounted with such impatience he fell face first into the hot burnt earth. Angelous looked up, and saw his three strong sons...all crucified on the very timbers that were made for his home. They were crude crosses...and poorly put together...but his sons had been nailed there...with wooden stakes.... and tied at the waist, with leather straps.

Angelous stood on weak legs...and looked down at the pool of blood that laid under the table...and soaked the ground. His wife.... he could see the signs of rape.... but more than that...he could see the killers seed spread all across her. There was so much of it.... there had to have been more than one man. Maybe, ten or fifteen...but for all the cuts, bruises, and blood...Angelous could not recognize his own wife anymore. He did not however see his daughter...his little angel...his gift from his deity. He searched high and low...but found nothing.... until he searched the wheat field.... there, under the crushed crop...his dead...raped daughter.... still hung to the emblem of Angelous's deity...how she must have cried out for her father....but he never came.

Angelous picked up his little girl...so light...yet still so beautiful...and laid her on the table with her mother. He cut down his sons...one at a time...and set each of them next to their mother and sister. He then called on his divine magic to set the table ablaze.... but nothing happened. He tried again...and again.... yet he could not call upon his deity! His magic was gone! He fell to his knees and prayed...but he got no answer...he got no sense of the companionship he always felt when he prayed. He stood...and collected wheat.... and found a still hot piece of wood...he set to work on creating the fire...and set the table ablaze. He prayed for his family.... then he went to mount Charger...but his horse reared at him.... and would not allow him to mount.

Angelous was outraged.... yet in his heart, he knew why. He had changed.... he was different. In this one moment...Angelous of the Shining Blade had died with his family. Now, Angelous walked away.... and as his horse vanished, Angelous found the all too clear signs of the passage of the killers.... and he began his march. With every step he removed his shining armor.... until, once he reached the top of the hill, he only had on his traveling clothes he wore under his armor. The only thing he kept was his blade and shield...and his herbs and medicines.

Angelous walked for weeks...finding a couple of the killers here and there.... hurting them to the point where they wanted death.... hurt them so badly they told of the locations of the others...and then he would leave them there...to die...slowly.... while the insects picked at their flesh. He had killed them all...all but the last three...the leaders. Angelous found them in a cave...and after a short battle, all three were in no condition to fight back. Angelous spent the next two weeks torturing them.... pushing them to the brink of death...and then healing them almost to full health...before he started the process over again. It was on his final day.... when he finally let them pass into the realm of death.... screaming their apologies until they had lost the ability to breathe. Angelous stood, and came face to face with a man who bore a striking resemblance to him. Yet, this man had an otherworldly feel to him.

They talked for some time.... and Angelous came to realize this man was no man at all, but a black dragon. That night, the black dragon known as Kurnocallezz took Angelous back to his lair, in the center of the Death Marshes. Angelous spent some time there.... learning about Tiamat, the dragon god that Callezz, as he liked to be called, worshiped. Tiamat offered things to Angelous that he greedily accepted, and he was marked.... the Arcane Mark that carried a heavy price...but a great power.

Angelous gained all the benefits of a dragon rider.... but lost his lust for all women of the mortal realm. No elf, nymph or other beautiful maiden could heat his blood. He also lost his ability to produce any heirs...so to fill this gap, Angelous Vutha Kothar, so named by Callezz, started down the path of darkness...and found it much to his liking.

From day one, he has lived by his own code...leaving a pile of corpses behind him. Yet, in spite of all of this, Angelous has formed his own band of loyal servants and soldiers. Angeleous has found this new life much more satisfying than his old one. And so, everyday the Black Demon of Tiamat rides on, in search of battle....and how to fill the hole in his soul...that only being lost in battle seems to fill.


End file.
